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5 Ways To Stay Motivated To Exercise

3rd May 2023

3rd May 2023

By Beth Shelper

Struggling to get into the swing of exercising? Need some workout motivation tips, or some guidance on how to stay motivated at the gym? Say no more. The Innermost Team have got you covered.

Why do we work out?

When you workout, generally, you are doing it out of choice. We workout because we are aware of the benefits this has on our physical and mental health: it is not because you have to. We all have our individual fitness goals, whether that is to get more toned, lose weight, have more energy... the list goes on. You decided to sweat lots, strain your muscles and raise your heart rate. Some of us even pay for the privilege of doing this.

There are many reasons why we choose to workout. These range from wanting to look better, all the way to wanting to live longer. Some of us workout because it allows us to sit down all day at work and not feel guilty about eating pie for dinner – a great reason, in our opinion.

Although, despite working out being our choice, and despite having goals and reasons for it, we often think that we would rather be somewhere else when we are exercising. Therefore, we need help. We need to be able to distract ourselves from the pain in our muscles and the sweat in our eyes. So what can we do?

Grab some company

Working out can be lonely- especially if you are just getting started. Facing a run at the crack of dawn with nothing but aching legs to keep us company is not easy.

But getting fit should not be like this. It can be fun. As the old saying goes, ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’, and as a result, group exercise can be great for many of us who struggle to work out on our own. Group exercise provides support, structure and accountability, and seeing others working hard will push us to work beyond our perceived limitations.

If you’ve got no one to go with – how about joining an exercise class at your local gym? There are plenty of sports and options to choose from and you never know, you may just meet someone there that can become your dedicated gym partner.

Mix up your routine

Do not fall into the rut of doing the same workouts all the time. Naturally, you will get bored and the prospect of that specific workout will pretty much fill you with dread. If you can’t face another second on the exercise bike, try the treadmill or cross trainer instead.

If there is a piece of equipment or exercise that you hate – don’t do it! No one is forcing you, and your fitness journey is all about you. It’s important to remember that what works for one person won’t work for another - there are plenty of other exercises out there and no rush, so take your time, do your research and find ones that you enjoy.

Reward yourself, often

No, we don’t mean by grabbing a takeaway on your way home from the gym. When you exercise, naturally our body releases endorphins – feel good hormones that give you that post-workout buzz. If that isn’t enough of an award, schedule in something exciting or relaxing after your workouts: see a friend, watch your favourite film, grab a smoothie from your favourite café or maybe buy yourself some new gym wear to get yourself excited for your next trip.

One of our favourite things to do to get us in the mood for a workout is whip up a deliciously flavoured protein shake to drink on our way to the gym. Why not try The Strong Protein and start implementing a supplement drink motivation into your routine.

It’s the little things that make a difference and can turn a once chore-like activity into a healthy, enjoyable habit.

Listen to music

No matter what your goal is, when you exercise, your environment can really make a difference to how well you train. It has been suggested that music has a real impact on how motivated you feel. It also distracts us from pain and tiredness and decreases our awareness of how we feel. Music enables us to push harder, work for longer and actually do our bodies some good.

Need some playlist inspiration? How about these…

Count Your Reps

Whether you decide to count down to the finish line or count how many reps you’ve done in total in that session, quantifying your workouts is a great way to feel productive and accomplished. Having a goal to work towards is a great way to motivate and push yourself to achieve your fitness goals.

Summary

It’s important not to feel disheartened if you’re feeling unmotivated to workout – it happens to us all, and is only natural. Try some of our recommendations on days when getting in your exercise is just that little bit harder, and we promise that you won’t regret making the effort to do so.

If you’re lacking energy as well as motivation, why not try incorporating The Energy Booster into your routine? Packed with Branched Chain Amino acids, this supplement is designed to up your energy levels and give you that all importance exercise motivation. Let's go!

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The Best Exercises To Improve Your Rowing PB
Whether a seasoned gym addict, first-time fitness enthusiast, or avid water goer, there’s nothing quite like smashing your rowing PB. While it might look intimidating to begin, it’s much simpler, addictive, and most importantly, beneficial to your body than beginners might think. Like any workout PB however, there can reach a point where your best time seems to plateau. After all, there are only so many times you can improve right? Well not necessarily. In addition to a high protein diet and the use of fitness supplements like The Power Booster to aid performance, there are a wide range of exercises to try that can improve rowing endurance, power, and technique. By the end, getting a faster rowing PB should be a breeze. The Benefits Of Rowing Firstly, it’s important to ask; should you go for a PB in the first place? Short answer: absolutely! Rowing offers a complete high-intensity exercise all without skipping a beat; just a single session will train 9 of your muscle groups and around 85% of your body’s muscles. Compared to other workouts, this builds strength and endurance within key muscles in the upper and lower body. While achieving that rowing PB can be tough, being able to endure the challenge and feel the muscle growth is an unmatched workout joy. The versatility of rowing means everyone from cardio lovers to arm day enthusiasts can look forward to smashing their next PB. Rowing workouts are also low-impact and kind to your individual joints. This makes it the perfect PB challenge for those recovering from, and looking to avoid persistent injury - or perhaps even the dreaded shin splints. The exercise also provides mental benefits for the individual through the release of endorphins (the body’s feel-good hormones).   Exercises To Improve Your PB So how do you go about improving your PB? Well because rowing utilizes a complete range of muscles, getting a better time is all about targeting these individual parts of the body. This requires a mix of all types of workouts from cardio and core to strength training. Cardio Workouts To bring rowing performance to the next level, it’s almost essential to incorporate a strong aerobic focus into your exercise. Given the repetitive and continuous motions required with rowing, it’s easy to get stuck in the trap of pushing yourself too much – especially when it comes to striving for a PB. Cardio performance exercises are a fantastic method to build your rowing endurance, improve your heart health, and simply just lift your mood. For the best results, we’d recommend a mix of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and steady-state cardio (SSC) workouts. High-Intensity Interval Training HIIT exercises are all about raising the heart rate and building strength and stamina. They balance short but maximum-intensity workouts with rest intervals – think short sprints, fast cycling, and squat jumps. This makes HIIT an important tool to improve cardio capabilities and smash that rowing PB goal. Steady State Cardio SSC workouts on the other hand focus on continuous but long-term workouts. Instead of 2-minute short sprints of high intensity, you might take a light 30-minute jog for a consistent heart rate. These exercises have the benefit of improving your endurance levels and making it easier to continue rowing until hitting your distance target.     Strength Training While debates continue to rage about whether rowing is a cardio exercise – we’re firmly of the it is camp – strength plays just as vital a role as endurance. Regardless of whether you row 500, 1000, 2000 metres, or beyond, there will always be a mental balance required between the rowing strength you exert per rep and the overall distance remaining. By improving key muscles through strength training, you can reduce the effort and difficulty on each row to improve speed and overall performance. Given the full body sequence of actions used in rowing, we’d recommend you focus your workout on 3 key areas: legs, core, and arms.         Leg Exercises Your leg contains some of the strongest muscles in the body. Given its importance to strong rowing performance, it’s not exactly surprising that we’re recommending you incorporate leg exercises into your fitness routine. This is especially true at the rowing catch point - the end point of each row – where the greatest leg force is required. To improve leg muscle strength, we recommend simple but effective exercises like squats, lunges, and targeted deadlift sessions.     Core Exercises While it might not be completely obvious, your core muscles – the stomach and lower back muscles - play a pivotal part in maintaining your posture and improving your rowing PB. They are especially important in supporting rowing form toward the end of the workout when you begin to tire. A strong core also minimises the workload on other muscles that would otherwise have to work harder to compensate for a weak core. Core workouts are also simple to do whether at home or the gym. Just some ideas include plants, hip bridges, and Pilate ab crunches. Arm Exercises Arm strength also plays a significant role in maintaining rowing form, albeit slightly different depending on whether you’re at the gym or treading the waters. For water goers, the arms act as a messenger of sorts. They transfer the power generated from the leg and core muscles into the rowing oar and push the boat forward – a fairly important element to achieving any sort of distance. For the motivated gym goer, strong arms can provide well-defined concentric and eccentric muscle movements that benefit form. To focus on improving arm muscle strength, there are plenty of exercises you to try. Just some effective choices are bicep curl and triceps extension workouts, but you can even try something as simple as home push-ups (which will also help in improving core strength). The Importance Of Technique, Rest, And Recovery With all this said, a key and often overlooked part of improving a rowing PB is simply getting the basics - effective form and technique before, during, and after any exercise – down. Consider adding some simple and easy stretches before a session to effectively warm up your muscles and best prepare your body. Likewise, you could have all the endurance tools you need to succeed, but a poor rowing technique could see you waste unnecessary energy. Efficiency is key here. The other added benefit of good form is that it greatly reduces the chance of any injuries which let’s face it, is quite important to training and smashing the next PB. As someone who has gone for a personal best on many occasions, I can agree that this last part can be the most difficult, but achieving a PB is all about planning rest and recovery days into your training. Listening to your body here can be crucial. Pushing too hard increases the risk of overtraining, potentially leading to injury. To this end, it can make it easier to think of recovery as another stage of the workout process. Remember, rest days don’t necessarily mean you have to do nothing all day. Gentle exercises like walks and even yoga can work wonders for body recovery. Interested to discover more about Innermost Power Booster Supplements? Looking for the best ways to fuel your next workout? Perhaps you have some amazing and inspired ideas to share? Don’t hesitate to message us on our Instagram @liveinnermost. Read more
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